If you clicked on a Facebook ad last semester offering fake IDs in Lawrence, you’re not alone. More than 5,000 other people did, too.
The ad was created by the New Tradition Coalition, an organization that includes law enforcement, local bar owners and school and health officials. The ad was just one of the coalition’s efforts to increase awareness about alcohol abuse and underage drinking.
“The number of people that we have documented as clicking on the ad were between the ages of 16 and 20,” said Jen Jordan, director of prevention for the Douglas County Citizens Committee on Alcoholism. “This is just representative of the fact that underage drinking is a big issue in Lawrence and at KU.”
In the spring of 2010, the project “Fake ID 101” was launched. TheLawrence Police Department, the Douglas County Sheriffs Department, the KU Public Safety Office, the DCCCA and theAlcoholic Beverage Patrol all combined forces to enact it.
When Fake ID 101 began, its main method for combatting underage drinking was to send officers into bars to ask patrons for identification. Officers were out on four separate nights and gave out 48 citations for alcohol violations.
KU Public Safety Office captain Schuyler Bailey said that when teams go out, they are made up of police officers, the sheriff and University officers.
“This just wasn’t working,” Jordan said. “Kids would immediately set down their drinks and walk away or go to the bathroom. The officers stood out and anyone who was underage would leave.”
Last fall, officers were out on nine separate nights. Overall, 731 IDs were checked, 105 citations were written for minors in possession of alcohol and 60 citations were written for fake IDs.
The increase in citations was due the officers’ new methods, which included wearing plain clothes, checking IDs outside bars and liquor stores, patrolling the KU area on football game days and visiting house parties.
Alycia Futrelle, a manager at On The Rocks liquor store, said officers have visited the store and stood at the end of check-out lanes to check IDs of customers.
“Fake IDs are probably more likely to be used at bars than at liquor stores,” Futrelle said. “Bars are darker; it’s harder to see the picture. And when a customer uses a credit card, we check to make sure it matches the name on their ID.”
Jordan said it was often hard for clerks or doormen to spot fake IDs because state IDs change so often.
“When you are in a college town, it is reasonable to think that kids are from all over the country,” Jordan said. “Kansas IDs are more difficult to fraud. When kids buy fake IDs online, they are almost always out of state.”
To help with this issue, the New Tradition Coalition will provide bars and liquor stores with a book that has a photo of every state ID and its marking characteristics.
As spring break nears, Jordan said bar and liquor store employees would be warned to look for an increase of fake IDs.
“A lot of students are either getting fake IDs to take on spring break or getting them when they get there,” Jordan said. “Destinations like Florida and Mexico have spots set up that have them for sale, so officers will be looking for these.”
The exact dates of bar and liquor store visits were not disclosed. The possession of a borrowed, altered or fake ID may result in fines up to $2,500 and one year in jail.